The shop
by The-trio-until-the-very-end
Summary: a short oneshot of Rose Tyler meeting a young bow tied man one day at work. "I'm sorry." He repeated. They exchanged eye contact, "I- I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I shouldn't have come."


I found this on my laptop and realized I never posted it. Hope you guys like it! It's just a little one shot, but I thought it was cute and eleven and Rose stories are the best.

* * *

It was raining; it was always raining in London really. It never stopped. Rose tried to carry an umbrella with her at all times like her mother suggested, but on this particular afternoon she found herself without one. She threw cash into the front of the taxi and stepped out onto the busy sidewalk, trying to shield herself from the rain like everyone else. Rose hurried into the shop, along with a few others. She dropped her purse off in the back, swiped her time card, and got to work. She tried to wipe water off of her orange t-shirt and jeans, but failed.

"Morning Rose!" Vicky said from behind the sell counter.

Rose smiled back as she grabbed a new shipment of pants to put on display, carrying the box to the racks she greeted her back, "Morning to you too, you seem rather happy on this rainy day."

Vicky shrugged, as a costumer came to checkout, "hello hun, this all for you?" she asked the women.

Rose returned to the rack, glancing at the window every now and then, watching the rain. The store was getting busy, no doubt from everyone trying to get dry for a bit. After she was done with the pants, she moved over the shirts, organizing and reorganizing them. She hummed to herself, trapped in her own little world for a while. Until a man came into her vision. Rose watched him play with his hands as he walked around, getting closer to her. Rose stood up, put a smile on her face and asked the man the same question she asked everyone else every day, "Hello. Looking for something?"

The man jumped back, "oh hello." He was completely dry, his tweed jacket and brown hair sticking out in the store.

"I'm sorry, but we're freshly out of bowties mate." Rose said, pointing to the blue one around the man's neck."

He felt the cloth and smiled, "oh come on, you don't like it?"

Rose laughed, "Well it is kinda cool. But we don't sell men's clothes." The guy laughed too. Rose liked him, he had something about him. "I'm Rose Tyler"

He gave her a nervous smile, "What's the year Rose Tyler?" He whispered, looking her up and down.

She ran her hand through her hands through her dirty blonde hair, "2005?" She couldn't help but wonder why he didn't know the year, was he drunk already at one in the afternoon?

He nodded, "right. I'm John Smith. Lovely to meet you."

"Right back at you!" She told him, "and happy to help if you're looking for something for someone."

"No, no. I don't have a someone." He said sadly. "Not anymore."

"oh, well I'm sorry, I don't really have anyone either. Besides my mum." Rose thought about Mickey, but lately she had felt them growing apart.

"Oh a lovely girl like you, I'm sure you'll find some real soon." He told her, smiling a sad smile.

"I hope so too. And you'll find someone too Mr. Smith." She joked. John Smith patted the shelf of shirts. "If you don't need anything, I have shirts to fix." She said trying to fill the silence.

The stranger nodded, "right. I've wasted too much of your time already."

He went turned and in the process knocked down all the shirts on the shelf. "Oh I'm sorry." He told her as they both bent down to pick them up. "I'm sorry." He repeated. They exchanged eye contact, "I- I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I shouldn't have come." They put all the shirts back in a pile before standing back up.

"Honesty, it's cool, they were stacked wrong anyway, so it's fine." She told him, trying to calm him down. The man looked like he was about to burst into tears. She smiled at him and he started breathing normally.

"I should really go. I mean it this time. Thanks for the help." He nodded at her, trying to smooth things over.

"I didn't help you with anything, but all right. If you ever actually need anything next time, ask for Rose Tyler!" She informed him as he waved and walked away. Rose smiled before starting to restack the pile of shirts. He was a nice enough man, and she was upset when he never came back to see her.

* * *

Reviews are like getting a 50th trailer soon..


End file.
